base, tubular part green, sheath resolved in long coarse fibres along split, 4-6 cm in diam. above the middle, deeply rounded and with white waxy covering abaxially, shallowly grooved with scattered ramenta adaxially; rachis 400-500 cm long with scattered brown scales on adaxial face and dense covering of brown scales abaxially; pinnae 90-120 per side, basal ones subalternate, 50-70 x 0.5-2 cm and inserted 10--15 em apart, the middle ones opposite, 100-120 x 6-8 em and inserted 2-5 cm apart, the distal ones opposite and 20-40 x 1-2 cm, midnerve prominent, submarginal veins prominulent, transverse commissures inconspic­ uous. Staminate peduncle 70-90 cm long, surface layer splitting in tortuous shreds forming a tomentum with masses of pollen and raphide-containing cells adherent to it; prophyll 40-50 x ca. 15 cm, green with scattered brown scales increasing in density towards the apex, margin grossly and irregularly serrate proximally, apex obtuse; first peduncular bract 80-150 cm long, woody­ Fig. 27. Distribution of natalia. coriaceous, largest circumference in bud to 30 em, in­ side cream to yellow, outside yellowish-brown with green tinge, glabrous proximally, otherwise covered by longitudinally extended and rounded; anthers elongate, white waxy layer and scattered brown ramenta, these apiculate; pollen elliptic, monosulcate, longest axis more dense along the carinae and towards the apex; 60-70 11m long, sexine reticulate. Pistillate incomplete peduncular bracts 3-5, deltoid to ovate and with 30-50 , these narrow, to 25 cm long; gynoe­ acute, the basal ones 13-17 cm long; rachis 100--170 em cium 6-8 loculate. Infructescence to 45 cm in diam. long, grooved, 4-5 x 2-3 cm in cross-section in the Peduncular bract of infructescence woody, persistent; middle part, similar to peduncle in surface,' color and with narrow base, outer mesocarpial processes texture; clusters 200-300, the basal ones widely often long and resolved apically; (5-)6 median separated, composed of three flowers and subtended by ridge of pyrene blunt. - One . a up to 3 cm long bract, the central ones widely spaced, composed of four flowers and subtended by a deltoid 2. a. Aphandra natalia (Balslev and Henderson) bract to 1 cm long, ultimate flowers solitary, densely Barfod comb. nov. crowded, each subtended by a shallow, membranous natalia Balslev and Henderson, Syst. Bot. 12: 501­ and inconspicuous bract; flowers with unevenly long 504,1987. - Type: . Morona-Santiago: Logrofio, Men­ pseudopedicels formed late during ontogeny by fusion dez-Sucua road km. 18,800 m, 14 July 1985 (d" and ~, frts and and elongation of the receptacle and the base of the flws, incl. photos) Balslev and Henderson 60651 (AAU Holo­ type, BH, K, NY, QCA, QCNE Isotypes). perianth, the deltoid teeth of the perianth cupule visible on the zigzagged borderline between the tomentose Illustrations: Henderson, Bot. Rev. 52: 221-259, Fig. 4 pseudopedicel and the glabrous margin of the recepta­ e and d, 1986; Balslev & Barfod, Opera Bot. 92: 17-35, cle; receptacle enlarged and broadly clavate, 0.8-1.2 x Fig. 3, 1987; Balslev & Henderson, Syst. Bot. 12: 501­ 1.2-1.6 cm, covered by masses of 400-650 stamens; 504, Figs I and 2 a-b, 1987. filament 2.5-3 mm long, subulate, subequal to the anth­ ers in width; anthers elongate 3--3.5 x 0.3-0.4 mm, Erect single-stemmed palm tree, 3-5 m tall; stem of tall apiculate and sagitate basally. Pistillate peduncle 30-45 palms clean proximally, rough-ringed, smooth, covered x 5-8 em; prophy1l40-60 x ]()--14 em; first peduneul.t by gray crustaceous lichens, 20 cm in diameter with bract inserted 20-30 cm above prophyll, splitting longi­ internodes up to 5 cm long. 10-15, erect, droop­ tudinally on both the abaxial and the adaxial side, 35-45 ing and twisted apically, 200-250 cm long from point of cm long, similar to the staminate homologue in circum­ insertion to blade; base split to 20-30 cm above ference, texture, color and haircovering; incomplete pe-

Fig. 28. aequatorialis. - A. Habit. - B. Detail of stem showing the spirally arranged short, close leaf bases. - C. Staminate inflorescence. ~ D. Detail of rachis of staminate inflorescence. - E. Staminate flower cluster and stamen. - F. Pistillate inflorescence after anthesis. - G. lnfructescence. Note the the incomplete peduncular bracts below the fruits and the basally persistent perianth. - H. Longitudinal section through pyrene. Note the narrow with the embryo embedded basally in the , the subbasal umbo and the short rostrum above this. - (A4B. Sarfod et al. 60187. C-E. Balslev & Henderson 60669; F-H. Barfod & Skov 6oo8t).

46 Opera BOlanica 105 1991 duncular bracts 15-25, the lower ones elliptic with at­ producing palms, such as Wallace tenuated base, 10-15 x 5-7 em, acute to acuminate, and AttaLea funifera Mart. Fibre extraction is a major light brown. scaly and with longitudinal brown stripes, source of income in the Province of Morona-Santiago. increasingly smooth and acuminate towards the bracts Along the road from Sucua to Macas there are large subtending flowers; flower bearing zone 5-8 em long plantations of Aphandra natalia. The fibres are ex­ with 30--50 flowers; floral subtending bracts 4--6 em tracted from the leaf-bases. The main part of the fibres long, with up to 3 em long acumen; sepaloid bracts 4-6, are exported from the region to Guayaquil and Quito, 5-10 em long, from narrowly deltoid with long apex to where broom factories are situated. strap shaped; tepals 7-9, 15-25 em long, 5-10 mm wide, Wade Davis and Yost (unpub!. data) recorded how apically acuminate; non-functional stamens 30--50,5-16 the Waoranis of Amazonian Ecuador exploit the fibres mm long; pistil 2.5-3 em long, 6-8 loculate, tapering of Aphandra natalia for numerous purposes in their apically; style 20--25 x 2-3 mm, widening out and flat­ daily life. From the stem they extract blowgun darts. tened towards the point of separation of the stigmas; Fibres from the leaf base are used for firestarters and stigmas 6-8. 4-5 em long, tortuous. Infructescences up torches. The leaves are used for braiding baskets to haul to 5, but usually fewer on one palm, 30-45 em in diam.; meat and Cassava. peduncle 4-5 x 2-3 em in cross section in the middle The of Aphandra natalia has a fleshy and thick part; first peduncular bract woody, persistent; incom­ mesocarp that is a much appreciated snack. It is sold on plete peduncular bracts closely inserted and covering the sunday market in Sucua. 5-10 em of peduncle below the fruit-bearing zone, ap­ ically resolved in fibres; fruits 30-45, 7 to 12 em long, Taxonomic notes: This species has been tranferred from tangential face 4-11 em in diam with spiny processes up Ammandra where it was recently described because of to 3 em long, resolved in fibre tufts or much shorter and the unusual morphology of the staminate flower cluster. not resolved, basal part of style persistent, abscission It shows affinities to both Phytelephas and Ammandra. scar 2-3 x 1-1.5; inner fleshy mesocarp to 3 mm thick; Fruits have been observed with short spines that do not number of seeds usually 6; pyre'1es unevenly sized and resolve in lowland populations. shaped in outline, median ridge blunt; rostrum absent; umbo basal, from elongate to round in outline, flat­ tened or ridged. Seedling with two scale leaves; cotyle­ 3. Phytelephas Ruiz and Pavon donary petiole elongating usually to less than 10 em; Syst. veg. fl. peruv. chil.: 299-302, 1798. - Lectotype: PhYle· eophyll with about 15 opposite pinnae, petiole and ra­ lephas macrocarpa Ruiz and Pavon (Cook 1927) chis with ramenta. - Fig. 26. Elephantusia Willdenow, Sp. pl., 1805. = Phytelephas Ruiz and Pavon Distribution: A recently discovered endemic to the east­ Yarina O. FCook, J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 17: 218-230. 1927.­ Type: Yarina microcarpa (Ruiz and Pavon) Cook. ern foothills of the Ecuadorean ranging eastward Palandra Cook, J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 17: 218-230, 1927.­ into the lowlands of southern Amazonian Ecuador (Fig. Type: Palandra aequatorialis (Spruce) Cook. 27). Usually mid-sized palm trees, habit variable from one Phenology: Flowering througout the year with a slight species to another, even within the same species; stem peak in February and March. with short close leaf bases. Leaf sheath split to the base or tubular proximally as in P. macrocarpa ssp. tenui­ Ecology and habitat: The population of the type locality caulis; pinnae with tomentum on abaxial side of major is managed and very uniform. Good reproduction is veins or glabrous, evenly distributed in one plane or procured by clearing surrounding trees and cleaning the irregularly distributed and pointing in different above forest floor. The several xeromorphic features in the the one plane in PhyteLephas aequa/orialis; cuticle usu­ leaf anatomy are noteworthy because this species grows ally thin, stomata large with substomatal chamber, cos­ under ever-wet conditions. tal bands of elongated epidermal cells present, fibre bundles concentrated in the hypodermis and peripheral Vernacular names: "Piassaba" (Spanish) the fibres; "wa­ layers of the mesophyll, the widest ones clearly distinct mowe" (Waorani) the mature tree; "wamomo" (Wao­ from minor veins, raphide-containing ideoblasts more rani) the fruit; "wamongi" (Waorani) the fibres; "wa­ or less common, irregularly scattered in the mesophyll. monngkagi" (Waorani) the stem when used for blowgun Prophyll, first peduncular bract and incomplete pedun­ darts; "wamonta" (Waorani) the leaves when used for cular bracts glabrous. Staminate inflorescence with nu­ braiding; "tinduiki" (Shuar). merous flower clusters, composed of two pairs of sub­ opposite flowers closely inserted on a short axis; flowers Ethnobotany and economic botany: The majority of the sessile, or subsessile to pedicellate as in P. aequatorialis brooms manufactured and used in Ecuador are made of and P. tumacana. Receptacle enlarged in width, flat and the fibres of this species. The vernacular name "pias­ rounded in outline, usually with numerous boreholes saba" is in general use all over South America for f.ibre from ovipositing beetles, pistillode absent at anthesis,

48 Opera BOlanica 105 1991